Bellringer passed away in October

Michael Becker

News Editor michael@nsnews.com

EIGHT bellringers plan to attempt a marathon session on church bells Saturday to honour a North Vancouver man who passed away last vear.

Members of the Vancouver Society of Change Ringers vill try to complete a peal consist- ing of 5,040 changes of “plain bob triples.”

A peal is test of endurance and concentration that takes about three hours te complete.

Bellringers had attempted a peal dedicated to the memory of Ted Lee on Nov. 22, but it failed almost half way through at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver.

Lee would have celebrated his 90th birthday on that day. He passed away at 89 in October. Lee was instrumental in founding the society in

Friday, March 10, 2000 - North Shore News - 3

WEST Vancouver residents Dick Waterman, right, and Jeff White rehearsed on the belis at Holy Rosary Cathedral Tuesday night. The two men fearned much about change ringing from Ted Lee.

1957.

The bells had been ringing at Holy Rosary Cathedral from 1906 on but fell silent between 1952 and 1957. The belis were quieted with the passing of Alfred Claude Limpus (1868-1952), the man who brought them to the church. The first peal was rung in Canada at Holy Rosary to celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911.

Lee first rang the church bells of Kirkby-in-Ashfield as a lad of 15 in Nottinghamshire, England. He described the appeal of change-ringing in a News

interview in 1998, “It’s the feeling of achievement. You learn something from read- ing a book er diagrams and then being able to perform it and doing it using your own brains with other people. You are all striving for the same thing,” Lee said.

In the early days of change-ringing the pursuit was considered a gentieman’s form of recreation. Change-ringing involves changing the order of when the bells are sounded. A bell never moves more than one place at a time. For instance, the first order might be 1-2-3 and the second would be 2-1-3 and third 2-3-1 but never would it go from 1-2-3 to 3-2-1,

Peals tend to be rung to celebrate significant events. There are seven towers with bells hung for change-ringing in Canada. Britain is home to approximately 5,000 towers with bells. For years, the Holy Rosary Cathedral was the most westerly ring- ing tower in the world. Bells installed in Victoria in 1936 ended that distinction.

Ambleside resident Jeff White, British Properties resident Dick Waterman, and Valerie Belcher of North Vancouver City were among those rehearsing at the church on Tuesday night.

Said Belcher of Lee, “He was just an amazing man. He was so positive the whole time. The last several years he went through a tot of hardships, but it didn’t get him down. You didn’t know how he was going to get up the stairs and then you didn’t know how he was going to ring. He used to get really upset that his body didn’t work, because his mind still worked. 1 kept saving to him that we could be a won- derful team. T could do the physical work and he could do the mental work.”

Parkinson's Disease was one of the medical problems that made Lec’s later years ditticult. Waterman started ringing in 1992. “It was Ted who taught me how to handle a rope. There were nwo of us who worked downtown and he would take the time during the week. We could sneak out at funch time and he would give us spe- cial sessions on the bells fully mufiled. T got hooked.”

Action taken

Katharine Hamer News Reporter

Acomplaint of discreditable conduct against a police officer has resulted in disciplinary action.

Details of the officer’s behaviour are posted on the Web site of the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner Matt Adie and West Vancouver Police Cpl. Janis Jean both said they were unable to confirm or deny that the officer was in fact Const. Ian Morrison, although the incident described matches every detail of a case involving Morrison reported in the News April 4, 1999.

The Web site report says the officer concerned responded to a break and enter in progress at a sub- urban residence. He blocked the complainant’s vehi- cle and asked nwo 14-year-old boys to emerge with their hands up.

When the complainant emerged herseif’ from the vehicle, the constable pointed his gun at her and

_ ordered her to stay in the vehicle. The report says the officer did not notice a five-year-old boy in the car. It says the complainant was the mother of one of the two teenage boys. The second boy had forgotten his key and had been trying to get into his house through a window when a neighbour called the

TED Lee, the North Vancouver man credited with bringing change ringing back to Vancouver in 1957,

Cindy Geodman

police.

On March 25, 1999, Beverley Matishak’s silver Land Rover was cut off by West Vancouver Police cruisers. Police had been responding to a report of break and enter by a neighbour.

Matishak’s 14-vear-ofd son and a friend had been trying to get into the friend’s house after being locked out. They were told co get out of Matishak’s car with their hands up, and then handcuffed. When Matishak tried to get out of the car, Morrison point- ed his gun at her. Her five-year-old son was in the car erying with his hands up.

The officer mentioned in the police complaints commission report, who cannot be confirmed or denied as Morrison, was disciplined by his Chief Constable.

The officer received advice as to his future con- duct and was required to take training in the use of firearms, force options theory, vehicle stops and offi- cer investigation and safety tactics in veliicle stop sit- uations. The complainant received an apology from the deparument. The constable’s four-year service record with the department and 1] years with anoth- er department were taken into consideration — as was the constable’s belief that the vehicle was stolen.

“Our position is thar it’s a Police Act matter that’s been concluded,” said Jean.

To press time, Matishak could nut be reached for

comment.

passed away in October.

NEWS photo Terry Peters

BEVERLEY Matishak with her sons and a friend: police officer pointed a gun at them.

Councils seek transit changes

dan-Christian Sorensen Contributing Writer NORTH Shore coun-

cillors want some broad changes made to TransLink’s Strategic Transportation Plan before they give their blessing to the billion- dollar proposal.

On Tuesday night, councils from North Vancouver City and District, West: Vancouver Disuict, the Village of Lions Bay and Bowen Island munic- ipality met to discuss the mer- its of the plan and give direc- tion to North Vancouver District Mayor Don Belf, the region's lone representative on the TransLink board.

Also on hand to answer questions were TransLink CEO Ken Dobell and TransLink manager of imple- mentation and planning Glen Leicester.

As part of its five-year plan for the Lower diainland, Trans Link is looking to add to its current fleet of transit vehi- cles as well as make improve- ments to schedules, roads and infrastructure with the long- term gual of increasing rransit use throughout the region.

Public transit currently accounts for approximately 11% of peak hour trips in the Greater Vancouver Regional District — a number TransLink would like to see grow at least 6% by 2006.

Other key points of the plan that directly affect the North Shore region include: @ improving transit: service bericen downtown Vanesitiver and the Horseshoe Bay furry terminal;

& doubling bus service (from every half-hour to every 15 minutes) during the peak afternonn and evening hours for buses travelling over the Second Narrows and Lions Gate bridges;

@ improving SeaBus service and examining the need for additional ferry services for Scymour, Bowen Island and Deep Cove;

B improving evening, week- end and holiday service to Lynn Valley;

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Body of dead man identified

THE body of a man that was found in a yard in the 1300-block of Chesterfield Avenue on March 3 has been iden- tified. .

Eric Gerald Hanlon, 36, of North Vancouver, was found dead, slumped over a small fence in the front yard of a home. His body was discovered by a neighbour of the house early in the morning.

According to his family, Hanlon was a successful busi- nessman and not a street per- son as police had previously speculated. Results of an autop- sy performed on Tuesday were not available to press time.